LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT 18e

John W. Santrock

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.
 Chapter Outline
• The Life-Span Perspective.
• The Nature of Development.
• Theories of Development.
• Research on Life-Span Development.

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 The Life-Span Perspective: Topics

• The importance of studying life-span development.

• Characteristics of the life-span perspective.
• Some contemporary concerns.

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 The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development 1

Studying life-span development:

• Prepares the individual to take responsibility for children.
• Gives insight about individuals’ lives and history.
• Provides knowledge about what individuals’ lives will be like as
they age into their adult years.

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 The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development 2

Development: the pattern of change beginning at conception and

continuing throughout the life span.
• Involves growth.
• Also includes decline brought on by aging and dying.

Life-span perspective: the perspective that development is

lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic,
multidisciplinary, and contextual.
• Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation and
is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual
factors working together.
• The emphasis is on developmental change throughout
childhood and adulthood.

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 Life Expectancy 1

• The upper boundary of the human life span is 122 years.

• Life expectancy in the United States is about 79 years.
• People are living longer in part due to better sanitation, nutrition,
and medicine.
• Currently, more people are over 60 than under 18.

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 Life Expectancy 2

FIGURE 1: MAXIMUM RECORDED LIFE

SPAN FOR DIFFERENT SPECIES

Our only competitor for the maximum recorded life span is the
Galápagos turtle

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 Life Expectancy 3

The rapid increase in life expectancy has negative implications for

quality of life for older people.
• Society reflects the needs of younger people:
• Parks, transportation systems, and so on are built assuming
they are used only by able-bodied people.
• Planning and building does not consider the needs of low-
strength or low-stamina people.

• The focus has been on what older adults lack, not what they can
contribute to society.
• Older citizens can share deep expertise and motivation to
make a difference.

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 Life Expectancy 4

FIGURE 2: HUMAN LIFE EXPECTANCY

AT BIRTH FROM PREHISTORIC TO
CONTEMPORARY TIMES
It took 5,000 years to extend human life expectancy from
18 years to 41 years of age.

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 Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective

Development has these qualities:

• Lifelong.
• Multidimensional.
• Multidirectional.
• Plastic.
• Multidisciplinary.
• Contextual.
• It involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss.
• It is a co-construction of biological, sociocultural, and individual
factors.

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 Types of Contextual Influences
Normative age-graded influences are similar for individuals in a
particular age group.
• For example, starting school, puberty, menopause.
Normative history-graded influences have common generational
experiences due to historical events.
• In the 1930s, the Great Depression; in the 1960s to 1970s, the civil
rights and women’s rights movements; in 2001, the attacks on 9/11.

Nonnormative life events are unusual occurrences that have a major

life impact.
• For example, early pregnancy, losing a parent as a child, winning the
lottery.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 1

Health and well-being:

• Lifestyles and psychological states have powerful influences on
health and well-being.
• For example, there is a positive connection between exercise
and cognitive development.

Parenting and education:

• Many questions involve pressures on the contemporary family
and conditions impairing the effectiveness of U.S. schools.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 2

Sociocultural contexts and diversity:

• Culture: behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a
group passed on from generation to generation.
• Cross-cultural studies: comparison of one culture with one or
more other cultures to gain information about their
developmental similarities.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 3

Ethnicity: a characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality

characteristics, race, religion, and language.
• Pride of ethnic identity has positive outcomes.

Socioeconomic status: grouping of people with similar

occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.
Gender: characteristics of people as males or females.
• Transgender refers to individuals who adopt a gender identity
that differs from the one assigned to them at birth.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 4

FIGURE 3: EXPOSURE TO SIX STRESSORS AMONG POOR AND MIDDLE-

INCOME CHILDREN
One study analyzed exposure to six stressors among poor children and middle-income children.
Poor children were much more likely to face each of these stressors.
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 Some Contemporary Concerns 5

Social policy: a national government’s course of action designed

to promote the welfare of its citizens.
Values, economics, and politics all shape a nation’s social policy.
Social policy issues include:
• The increase in the number of children living in poverty and
resulting stressors.
• The well-being of older adults, with escalating health care costs
and the need for access to adequate health care.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 6

Source Characteristic
Individual Good intellectual functioning;
Appealing, sociable, easygoing disposition;
Self-confidence, high self-esteem;
Talents;
Faith.
Family Close relationship to caring parent figure;
Authoritative parenting: warmth, structure,
high expectations;
Socioeconomic advantages;
Connections to extended supportive family networks.
Extrafamilial Context Bonds to caring adults outside the family;
Connections to positive organizations;
Attending effective schools.

TABLE 4: CHARACTERISTICS OF RESILENT CHILDREN AND THEIR

CONTEXTS
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 Some Contemporary Concerns 7

Technology:
There has been an almost overwhelming increase in the use of
technology at all points in human development.
Topics to consider include:
• The potential effects on language development.
• Screen time versus participation in physical activity.
• Whether media multitasking is harmful or beneficial.
• The degree to which older adults are adapting.

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 Some Contemporary Concerns 8

FIGURE 5: THE AGING OF AMERICA

The number of Americans over age 65 has grown dramatically since the start of the 20th century and is
projected to increase further from the present to the year 2040. A significant increase will also occur in
the number of individuals in the 85-and-over group. Centenarians—persons 100 years of age or older—
are the fastest-growing age group in the United States, and their numbers are expected to swell in the
coming decades.

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 The Nature of Development: Topics 1

• Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes.

• Periods of development.
• The significance of age.
• Developmental issues.

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 The Nature of Development: Topics 2

FIGURE 6: PROCESSES INVOLVED IN DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES

Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes interact as individuals develop.

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 Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional
Processes 1

Biological processes: changes in an individual’s physical nature.

• Science now allows for the study of an individual’s
genetic makeup.
Cognitive processes: changes in an individual’s thought,
intelligence, and language.
Socioemotional processes: changes in an individual’s
relationships, emotions, and personality.
Biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes interact as
individuals develop.

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 Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional
Processes 2

The connection is evident in two emerging fields:

• Developmental cognitive neuroscience explores links between
development, cognitive processes, and the brain.
• Developmental social neuroscience examines connections
between socioemotional processes, development, and the brain.
• Both fields show that their influence on each other is a constant.

In many instances, biological, cognitive, and socioemotional

processes are bidirectional.

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 Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional
Processes 3

FIGURE 7: PROCESSES AND PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT

The unfolding of life’s periods of development is influenced by the interaction of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional
processes.
(Photo credit left to right) Steve Allen/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images; Courtesy of Dr. John Santrock; Laurence Mouton/PhotoAlto/Getty
Images; Digital Vision/Photodisc/Getty Images; SW Productions/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images; Blue Moon Stock/Alamy Stock Photo; Sam
Edwards/CaiaImage/Glow Images; Ronnie Kaufman/Blend Images LLC

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 Periods of Development 1

Developmental period refers to a time frame in a person’s life

characterized by certain features.
• Prenatal period: conception to birth.
• Infancy: birth to 18 or 24 months.
• Toddler: 18 months to 3 years of age.
• Early childhood: 3 to 5 years of age.
• Middle and late childhood: about 6 to 10 or 11 years old.
• Adolescence: 10 to 12 years old, to 18 to 21 years old.
• Emerging adulthood: 18 to 25 years of age.
• Early adulthood: early twenties through the thirties.
• Middle adulthood: forties and fifties.
• Late adulthood: sixties or seventies, until death.

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 Periods of Development 2

Four ages:
Life-span developmentalists who focus on adult development and
aging typically describe development in terms of four “ages.”
• First age: childhood and adolescence.
• Second age: prime adulthood, ages 20 to 59.
• Third age: approximately 60 to 79 years of age.
• Fourth age: approximately 80 years and older.

Development in one period is connected to development in

another period.

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 Periods of Development 3

Three developmental patterns of aging:

• Normal aging: describes most individuals, with psychological
functioning peaking early middle age.
• Pathological aging: describes individuals with above average
decline as they age, developing a condition leading to mild
cognitive impairment or chronic disease that impairs daily
functioning.
• Successful aging: describes individuals maintaining positive
physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development longer in
life.

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 Periods of Development 4

Connections across periods of development:

• Just as there are many connections between biological,
cognitive, and socioemotional processes, so there are many
connections between the periods of the human life span.

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 The Significance of Age 1

Age and happiness:

Adults tend to be happier as they age because they:
• Have stronger relationships.
• Feel less pressured to achieve.
• Have more leisure time.
• Have more life experience that helps them adapt to change.
Life satisfaction varies across countries.
Health can predict life satisfaction as people age.

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 The Significance of Age 2

Conceptions of age:
• A full evaluation of age requires consideration of chronological,
biological, psychological, and social age.

Chronological age: the number of years that have elapsed

since birth.
Biological age: age in terms of biological health.
Psychological age: the individual’s adaptive capacities compared
with people of the same chronological age.
Social age: connectedness with others and the social roles
people adopt.

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 Developmental Issues 1

Nature-nurture issue: the debate about whether development is

primarily influenced by nature or nurture.
• Nature refers to an organism’s biological inheritance.
• Nurture refers to its environmental experiences.

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 Developmental Issues 2

Stability-change issue: the debate about the degree to which

early traits and characteristics persist through life or change.

Does the individual:

• Becomes an older version of the early self, with the same traits
persisting through life? or
• Develop into someone different from who he or she was at an
earlier point in development?
Continuity-discontinuity issue: the debate about the extent to
which development involves gradual, cumulative change
(continuity), or distinct stages (discontinuity).

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 Developmental Issues 3

FIGURE 9: CONTINUITY AND

DISCONTINUITY IN DEVELOPMENT
Is our development like that of a seedling gradually growing
into a giant oak? Or is it more like that of a caterpillar suddenly
becoming a butterfly?

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 Developmental Issues 4

Evaluating the developmental issues:

• Most developmentalists acknowledge that development is a
combination of each of these views.
• The extent of their individual influences is still highly debated.

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 Theories of Development: Topics
• Psychoanalytic theories.
• Cognitive theories.
• Behavioral and social cognitive theories.
• Ethological theory.
• Ecological theory.
• An eclectic theoretical orientation.

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 Theories of Development 1

Scientific method: a four-step approach that can be used to

obtain accurate information.
• Conceptualize a process or problem.
• Collect data.
• Analyze the data.
• Draw conclusions.

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 Theories of Development 2

• Theory: an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to

explain phenomena and facilitate predictions.
• Hypotheses: specific assumptions and predictions that can be
tested to determine their accuracy.
• The theory may suggest the hypothesis.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 1

• Psychoanalytic theories: describe development as primarily

unconscious and heavily colored by emotion.
• Behavior is a surface characteristic, and the symbolic workings
of the mind have to be analyzed to understand behavior.
• Early experiences with parents are emphasized.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 2

Freud’s theory:
• Through his work with patients, Freud became convinced that
their problems were the result of experiences early in life.
• He defined five stages of psychosexual development.
• Adult personality is determined by the way we resolve conflicts
between sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of
reality.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 3

Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Stage Latency Stage Genital Stage

Infant’s pleasure Child’s pleasure Child’s pleasure Child represses A time of sexual
centers on the focuses on the focuses on the sexual interest reawakening;
mouth. anus. genitals. and develops source of sexual
social and pleasure
intellectual becomes
skills. someone
outside the
family.
Birth to 1½ 1½ to 3 Years 3 to 6 Years 6 Years to Puberty Onward
Years Puberty

TABLE 10: FREUDIAN STAGES

Because Freud emphasized sexual motivation, his stages of development are known as psychosexual
stages. In his view, if the need for pleasure at any stage is either undergratified or overgratified, an
individual may become fixated, or locked in, at that stage of development.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 4

Erikson’s psychosocial theory:

• According to Erik Erikson, the primary motivation for behavior is
social in nature.
• Personality and developmental change occurs throughout the
life span.
• Both early and later experiences are important.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 5

Erikson’s theory: includes eight stages of human development,

each representing a crisis that must be resolved.
• Trust versus mistrust: first year of infancy.
• Autonomy versus shame and doubt: 1 to 3 years.
• Initiative versus guilt: 3 to 5 years.
• Industry versus inferiority: 6 years to puberty.
• Identity versus identity confusion: 10 to 20 years.
• Intimacy versus isolation: twenties and thirties.
• Generativity versus stagnation: forties and fifties.
• Integrity versus despair: sixties to death.

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 Psychoanalytic Theories 6

Evaluating psychoanalytic theories:

Contributions include an emphasis on a developmental framework,
family relationships, and unconscious aspects of the mind.
Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories:
• Lack of scientific support.
• Too much emphasis on sexual underpinnings.
• An image of people that is too negative.

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 Cognitive Theories 1

Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory:

Piaget’s theory: children go through four stages of cognitive
development as they actively construct their understanding of
the world.
• Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years of age).
• Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years of age).
• Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years of age).
• Formal operational stage (11 years of age through adulthood.
Two processes underlie this: organization and adaptation.

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 Cognitive Theories 2

Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, 2 to Concrete Operational Formal Operational

Birth to 2 Years of Age: 7 Years of Age:
The infant constructs an
Stage, 7 to 11 Years Stage, 11 Years of
understanding of the world The child begins to of Age: Age Through
by coordinating sensory represent the world with Adulthood:
experiences with physical
words and images. These The child can now
actions.
An infant progresses from reflect increased symbolic reason logically about The adolescent
reflexive, instinctual action thinking and go beyond the concrete events and reasons in more
at birth to the beginning of connection of sensory in
symbolic thought toward classify objects into abstract, idealistic, and
the end of the stage. formation and physical different sets. logical ways.
action.

FIGURE 12: PIAGET’S FOUR STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

According to Piaget, how a child thinks—not how much the child knows—determines the child’s stage of
cognitive development.

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 Cognitive Theories 3

Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive theory:

• Vygotsky’s theory: emphasizes how culture and social
interaction guide and are inseparable from cognitive
development.
The information-processing theory:
• Information-processing theory: emphasizes that individuals
manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.
• Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking.

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 Cognitive Theories 4

Evaluating cognitive theories:

Contributions include:
• A positive view of development.
• An emphasis on the active construction of understanding.

Criticisms of cognitive theories:

• Skepticism about the pureness of Piaget’s stages.
• Inadequate attention to individual variations.

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 Cognitive Theories 5

FIGURE 13: COMPARING INFORMATION PROCESSING IN HUMANS

AND COMPUTERS
Psychologists who study cognition often use a computer analogy to explain how humans process
information. The brain is analogous to the computer’s hardware, and cognition is analogous to the
computer’s software.
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 Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories 1

Skinner’s operant conditioning:

Development consists of the pattern of behavioral changes
brought about by rewards and punishments.
Bandura’s social cognitive theory:
• Emphasizes behavior, environment, and cognition as the key
factors in development.
• Relations between behavior, person/cognitive, and
environmental factors are reciprocal.
• Using forethought, individuals guide and motivate themselves by
creating action plans, formulating goals, and visualizing positive
outcomes of their actions.

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 Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories 2

FIGURE 14: BANDURA’S SOCIAL COGNITIVE MODEL

The arrows illustrate how relations between behavior, person/cognitive, and environment are reciprocal
rather than one-way. Person/cognitive refers to cognitive processes (for example, thinking and planning)
and personal characteristics (for example, believing that you can control your experiences).

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 Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories 3

Evaluating behavioral and social cognitive theories:

Contributions include an emphasis on scientific research and
environmental as determinants of behavior.
Criticisms:
• Little emphasis on cognition in Skinner’s theory.
• Inadequate attention paid to developmental changes.

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 Ethological Theory 1

Ethology: stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology,

is tied to evolution, and is characterized by experiences during
critical or sensitive periods.
Konrad Lorenz helped bring ethology to prominence by showing
the developmental importance of the imprinting behavior of geese.
John Bowlby determined that attachment to a caregiver over the
first year of life has important consequences for optimal social
relationship development throughout the life span.
• Critical period: a certain, very early point at which imprinting
must take place.
• Sensitive period: the time attachment should optimally occur.

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 Ethological Theory 2

Contributions of ethological theory include:

• A focus on the biological and evolutionary basis of development.
• The use of careful observations in naturalistic settings.

Criticisms:
• Too much emphasis on biological foundations.
• The critical and sensitive period concepts might be too rigid.

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 Ecological Theory 1

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory: development reflects the

influence of five environmental systems.
• Microsystem: setting in which the individual lives and helps to
construct.
• Mesosystem: the relations between microsystems or connections
between contexts.
• Exosystem: links between a social setting in which the individual has a
passive role and their immediate context.
• Macrosystem: the culture in which individuals live.
• Chronosystem: the patterning the environmental events and transitions
over the life course.

All are affected by each other and by events occurring over time.

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 Ecological Theory 2

FIGURE 15: BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL THEORY OF

DEVELOPMENT
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory consists of five environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem,
exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

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 Ecological Theory 3

Contributions of ecological theory include:

• The systematic examination of macro and micro dimensions of
environmental systems.
• Attention to connections between environmental systems.
• An emphasis on a range of social contexts besides family that
influence a child’s development.

Criticisms:
• Inadequate attention to biological factors.
• Too little emphasis on cognitive factors.

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 Ecological Theory 4

ISSUES: Continuity/discontinuity,
THEORY early versus later experiences ISSUES: Biological and environmental factors
Psychoanalytic Discontinuity between stages—continuity Freud’s biological determination interacting with
between early experiences and later early family experiences; Erikson’s more
development; early experiences very important; balanced biological-cultural interaction
later changes in development emphasized in perspective
Erikson’s theory
Cognitive Discontinuity between stages in Piaget’s theory; Piaget’s emphasis on interaction and adaptation;
continuity between early experiences and later environment provides the setting for cognitive
development in Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories; structures to develop; information-processing
no stages in Vygotsky’s theory or information- view has not addressed this issue extensively but
processing theory mainly emphasizes biological-environmental
interaction
Behavioral and Continuity (no stages); experience at all points of Environment viewed as the cause of behavior in
social cognitive development important both views
Ethological Discontinuity but no stages; critical or sensitive Strong biological view
periods emphasized; early experiences very
important
Ecological Little attention to continuity/discontinuity; change Strong environmental view
emphasized more than stability

TABLE 16: A COMPARISON OF THEORIES AND ISSUES IN

LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
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 An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation
An eclectic theoretical orientation does not follow any one
theoretical approach.
• Selects from each theory whatever is considered its best
features.
• Allows for seeing the study of development as it actually exists.
• For example, different theorists making different assumptions,
stressing different empirical problems, and discovering
information using different strategies.

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 Research on Life-Span Development:
Topics
• Methods for collecting data.
• Research designs.
• Time span of research.
• Conducting ethical research.
• Minimizing bias.

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 Methods for Collecting Data 1

Observation:
• Laboratory: a controlled setting where many of the complex
factors of the “real world” are absent.
• Naturalistic observation: observing behavior in real-world
settings, making no effort to manipulate or control the situation.

Survey and interview:

• Survey: a standard set of clear and unbiased questions used to
obtain people’s reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular
topic; sometimes referred to as a questionnaire.
• Interview: individuals are directly asked to self-report.

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 Methods for Collecting Data 2

FIGURE 17: PARENTS’ EXPLANATIONS OF SCIENCE TO SONS AND

DAUGHTERS AT A SCIENCE MUSEUM
In a naturalistic observation study at a children’s science museum, parents were three times more likely
to explain science to boys than to girls (Crowley & others, 2001). The gender difference occurred
regardless of whether the father, the mother, or both parents were with the child, although the gender
difference was greatest for fathers’ science explanations to sons and daughters.

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 Methods for Collecting Data 3

Standardized test: a test administered and scored utilizing

uniform procedures to compare performance across individuals.
Case study: an in-depth look at a single individual.
Physiological measures:
• Measure of hormones such as cortisol.
• Neuroimaging or fMRI.
• Electroencephalography (EEG).
• Heart rate.
• Eye tracking.
• Gene testing.

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 Methods for Collecting Data 4

FIGURE 18: BRAIN IMAGING OF 15-YEAR-OLD ADOLESCENTS

These two brain images indicate how alcohol can influence the functioning of an adolescent’s brain.
Notice the pink and red coloring (which indicates effective brain functioning involving memory) in the brain
of the 15-year-old non-drinker (left) while engaging in a memory task, and compare it with the lack of
those colors in the brain of the 15-year-old heavy drinker (right) under the influence of alcohol.

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 Research Designs 1

Descriptive research: a research method designed to observe

and record behavior.
Correlational research: attempts to determine the strength of the
relationship between two or more events or characteristics.
• Correlation coefficient: a number based on statistical analysis
that is used to describe the degree of association between two
variables.
• Ranges from −1.00 to +1.00.
• The higher the correlation coefficient (whether positive or
negative), the stronger the association between the two
variables.
• Correlation does not equal causation.

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 Research Designs 2

FIGURE 19: POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS OF CORRELATIONAL DATA

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 Research Designs 3

Experimental research is designed to study causality.

Experiment: a carefully regulated procedure in which one or more
of the factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are
manipulated while all other factors are held constant.
• The independent variable is a manipulated, influential,
experimental factor that is a potential cause.
• The dependent variable is a factor that can change in response
to changes in the independent variable.

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 Research Designs 4

Experiments can involve one or more experimental groups and

one or more control groups.
• A control group is a comparison group that serves as a baseline.

Random assignment is an important principle in experimental

research.
• Participants are assigned to experimental and control
groups by chance.

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 Research Designs 5

FIGURE 20: PRINCIPLES OF EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

Imagine that you decide to conduct an experimental study of the effects of meditation by pregnant women on their
newborns’ breathing and sleeping patterns. You would randomly assign pregnant women to experimental and control
groups. The experimental-group women would engage in meditation over a specified number of sessions and weeks. The
control group would not. Then, when the infants are born, you would assess their breathing and sleeping patterns. If the
breathing and sleeping patterns of newborns whose mothers were in the experimental group are more positive than those
of the control group, you would conclude that meditation caused the positive effects.

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 Time Span of Research 1

• Cross-sectional approach: a research strategy that compares

individuals of different ages simultaneously.
• Longitudinal approach: a research strategy where the same
individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several
years or more.
• Cohort effects: characteristics determined by a person’s time
of birth, era, or generation rather than the person’s actual age.

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 Time Span of Research 2

Generation Historical Period Reason for Label

Generation Z/ Individuals born in 1997 and later More immersed in a technological world,
Post-Millennials especially social media, more ethnically diverse,
and better educated than millennials.
Millennials Individuals born in 1980 First generation to come of age and enter
and later emerging adulthood (18 to 25 years of age) in the
21st century (the new millennium). Two main
characteristics: (1) connection to technology and
(2) ethnic diversity.
Generation X Individuals born between Described as lacking an identity and
1965 and 1980 savvy loners.
Baby Boomers Individuals born between Label used because this generation represents
1946 and 1964 the spike in the number of babies born after
World War II; the largest generation ever to enter
late adulthood in the United States.
Silent Individuals born between Children of the Great Depression and
Generation 1928 and 1945 World War II; described as conformists and civic
minded.

TABLE 21: GENERATIONS, THEIR HISTORICAL PERIODS,

AND CHARACTERISTICS
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 Conducting Ethical Research
The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed
ethics guidelines to address four issues:
• Informed consent: participants must know what their
participation will involve and must be able to withdraw at will.
• Confidentiality: data must be kept confidential and, when
possible, anonymous.
• Debriefing: after the study, participants should be informed of its
purpose and methods.
• Deception: when necessary, deception may be used, but the
psychologist must ensure it will not harm the participants and
that the participants will be debriefed.

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 Minimizing Bias
Gender bias:
• Conclusions are often drawn about females’ attitudes and
behaviors from research conducted with males as the only
research study participants.

Cultural and ethnic bias:

• Life-span development research has not always included
individuals from diverse ethnic groups.
• Ethnic gloss: superficial use of an ethnic label that portrays an
ethnic group as being more homogeneous than it really is.

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